


dirty town

by crayolapog



Category: Minecraft (Video Game)
Genre: Post-Manberg-Pogtopia War on Dream Team SMP (Video Blogging RPF), lmanberg cabinet sucks
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-27
Updated: 2021-01-02
Packaged: 2021-03-11 00:08:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,093
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28355967
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/crayolapog/pseuds/crayolapog
Summary: when ranboo fled l'manberg, he found the ruins of an ancient town, gunpowder residue everywhere and just one sign left on a tower surrounded by water in the center, scribbled on it was:"the town that never was."aka ranboo runs away and finds gogtopia ruins - based off of dirty town by mother mother
Relationships: No Romantic Relationship(s), just fake lore and friendship pog
Comments: 2
Kudos: 75





	1. chapter 1

Ranboo's day was not going according to plan at all.   
he woke up to quackity, a man with a strange vengeance against him, pounding on his door.   
"Ranboo! Open your door!" the man yelled, and ranboo groaned, stumbling up and quickly grabbing his armor and weapons, throwing the door open with a tight lipped smile.  
"yes, quackity?" he says through his teeth, looking down at the latter.

"we need to talk- the cabinet needs to talk to you, specifically," quackity's face was adorning a sickly fake smile, the one he used on tubbo, and it made ranboo's stomach churn. 

"uh, okay," ranboo raises an eyebrow with a small smile, trying to keep his cool. "about what exactly?" 

"oh don't worry! you'll see when you get there, we're meeting at the van, come on," and ranboo couldn't protest before quackity was pulling on his arm. 

the younger couldn't help but wrack his brain for something he did as he stumbled after the vice president. did they find his notebook? did technoblade tell them he gave the armor back? 

he didn't know. the really scary thing, though, was how quiet the small country was. the balloons in the centre were swaying quietly with the flags, no sound but the wind would dare cut through the atmosphere- as if the only residents were the ghosts of the country's past.

a shiver runs down his spine as he catches a glance of phil through the window of his house. he averts his vision when he sees ghostbur round the corner of the execution stand, pulling friend along behind him. 

it didn't feel the same recently. 

his thoughts were cut off as they arrived at the van, the cold iron door opening in front of him as he stumbles in behind quackity, facing tubbo and fundy. 

"ah, hello you two," tubbo smiles, trying to hide his very apparent tiredness. "we need to talk, ranboo."

"oh, about what?" play dumb, he thinks to himself. "did i do something?"

"yeah, actually-" fundy's cut off with a shove from tubbo. 

"fundy! sorry about that- but uh, technically yes," tubbo shifts on his feet, "uh, we read your mail with tommy. we know you've been talking with the enemy... is it real? it doesn't seem like yo-"

"since these two can't say it," quackity cuts tubbo off, "i will. you've been fraternizing with the enemy, ranboo. giving technoblade back his armor? who's side are you really on, ranboo? because it's become unclear to us," he laughs, his hand resting steadily on his diamond axe. 

ranboo bites his lip, trying to think of something to say. "I never said my allegiance lies with l'manberg. it lies with who has helped me. Tommy and Phil have done more for me than this cabinet has." 

Tubbo sighs, and ranboo can't make eye contact with fundy, the look the older was giving him just made him feel more guilty. 

"You reside in l'manberg, i even considered you apart of this cabinet, ranboo. This is an act of high treason, and you've just admitted it. This is a crime punishable by death. hand over your weapons, ranboo." tubbo looks up at him with exhaustion in his expression, and the only thing ranboo can think to do is run, blocking the exit to the van as he dashes to his house. 

he quickly stuffs necessities into his enderchest, grabbing his bow and taking his enderchest with him and jumping from the top window of his house just as the cabinet busts into his front door. 

he runs for the hills as phil shoots him a sad smile, already seeming to know what has happened. 

he runs past party park, hoping the cabinet doesn't see him as he uses his hybrid nature to his advantage, teleporting frequently. 

he doesn't stop running until he can't breathe, then he starts again. he goes until he can't feel his lungs. 

the sun is beginning to set when he finally stops, collapsing under a tree. he pants, finally letting himself relax.

he spends a good 10 minutes just catching his breath, reaching his hand up to fix his hair, his eye catching on a grey powder on his white hand. 

"huh? gunpowder?" he whispers to himself, then looks at the ground to see a small trail of it leading to a fence post that hikes up past the trees, into the hills. 

he stands up, slowly walking towards the fence post, looking up to see a briefly destroyed building under it, cobwebs adorning the underside of the structure. 

ranboo's curiosity gets the best of him, and he hikes up the mountain to see what rested beyond the old building. 

he didn't believe his eyes as he saw a city in ruins. he didn't think this server was old enough to have cities like this, but here it was- large statues with jagged edges, clearly a result of explosives, and the smell of gunpowder hung heavily in the air. 

a colorful flag was left destroyed beyond a platform connected to the center of the ruined town, signifying this had been something once. 

he stepped onto the unstable stone structure in the middle of the small town, picking up the sign left behind, only one thing written on it: the town that wasn't meant to be. 

who lived here? what was this place? why did no one ever talk about it? most importantly, what happened?

thoughts raced through his head as he walks into the biggest building, coughing as years worth dust stirs up. 

the only things left in the building were a bed, a half destroyed boat, and two chests with nothing but stone bricks in them left. it only had half of a roof.

ranboo sighs, plopping down gently on the bed, hugging his bag with his stuff in it close to him. 

'this'll do for now, until i get in contact with tommy,' he decides as his fatigue gets the best of him, his eyes shutting as he lulls himself into a (tactical) sleep.


	2. chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the first one was so rushed lol im gonna slow down now

ranboo awoke the next morning with a bothersome headache and sore limbs, his back cracking as he sat up from the thin mattress on the old bed he'd stumbled upon yesterday. 

he let out a deep breath as he let the sun seep in through the cracked roof of the ruins he'd been staying in, his mind assessing the events of the past 24 hours. he barely remembered anything past the van. how long did he run for? did they stop looking? he hoped they did. 

he dusted himself off and carefully exited the rickety building, trying not to cause a collapse. now that the sun was out, he could see the small town much better- the big house he'd slept in rested at the top of a hill, a ruined monument at the peak, quartz and blackstone buildings rested on fence posts to his left, their doors non existent and the bridges which led to them seemed a bit to risky to cross.

he circled around the center monument, his eyes settling on the ruined flag he had first saw, and the split wood that briefly resembled what could have been a platform at one point in front of it. 

a cobblestone path lied to the right, a ruined house with a long, winding chimney being the first thing he stumbled upon, the chests in it having been picked over already by other travelers. 

there was another statue, this one being white and covered in dirt, briefly resembling a smiling snowman with a hat and a pitchfork. ironic, ranboo thought to himself. 

there was a large tower with torn and dirtied banners hung on the bottom, all of them raid victory banners- signifying this town never got involved in many major wars. 

he turned behind him to see slightly intact doors to an underground base, the most intact place he'd seen so far. 

within the room, there was shelves, mostly empty, but there was a few books left. in fear of the roof collapsing in on him, he grabs the books and leaves the bunker and heads back up to the center. 

he carefully climbed into one of the more open quartz buildings, a bell resting in the middle of it. he sits on the edge of the hole left in the side of the building, resting against the uneven edges and letting his legs hang over the end as he pulls out the books- one titled in big letters 'gogtopia', one titled '  
le plan de l'arrivée', and the final book titled 'aftermath' with a few pages ripped out at the end. 

something in him is almost telling him to not open the books- that leaving this history untold to himself would help. that he already had enough to think about. 

ranboo's thoughts were interrupted when his communicator buzzed, and he quickly pulled it out to hundreds of unanswered messages from what was 99 percent the cabinet, two messages from sam, and one from tommy. 

he quickly opened tommy's, finding the younger had sent him messages asking where he was, and phil had found out and told him (although he didn't know how- the man was on house arrest), and that he could help ranboo. 

ranboo sent tommy his coordinates, putting his communicator down to take in everything, when not even a minute later, the other had answered. 

tommy: we're actually really close to there if i go through the nether, i can be there by today 

ranboo: thank god, i found a literal ghost town i've never heard of this place

tommy: i'll be there soon

ranboo let himself relax- someone he trusted was on their way. he was alive. it was gonna be okay. maybe it'll be more normal when he wakes up tomorrow- he always reverted back to taking it one day at a time when things got like this. 

he let his mind wander, thinking for a while about whatever, keeping his mind off of everything bad and just... daydreaming? reminiscing? he didn't know. he just liked to think sometimes. 

he often did this for hours on end without realizing- and he must've this time too because the next time he came back to his full mind tommy was in front of him. 

he jumped back with a sound of surprise, almost falling off of the edge he had his legs dangling off of before tommy pulled him back. 

"jeez, man, watch yourself," he laughs lightly, pulling ranboo to stand up with him. "can't have you die on me now,"

ranboo smiles. "thanks for coming, but be careful, most of these buildings are really unstable,"

the blond nods, looking at his surroundings, pulling ranboo out of the small structure. "yeah, what the hell is this place?"

"the town that was never meant to be, apparently," a voice says from behind the duo, startling ranboo as he turns around to see technoblade- the man seemed to just be around whenever and wherever he felt like. 

ranboo nods slowly, gesturing towards the books he was holding. "yeah, i found some books that seem to be a history of this place but i kinda just... couldn't bring myself to open them," 

tommy looks at the taller, staring at him before shrugging. "huh. strange, but i wanna look at them before we leave, this place is mysterious as fuck," 

with a small laugh, ranboo nods again, not seeming to be able to bring himself to play entertainer with tommy. "yeah.. techno, have you ever heard of this place?" 

techno walks towards the two teenagers, taking a look at the three books ranboo was holding, wracking his brain for something. 

"briefly.. it's more of a distant memory, if i'm honest," he starts. "it kind of sounds like a myth phil used to tell me and wilbur when we were like, two. wilbur listened to the tales phil told more than i did, so if you wanna try ghostbur, you can,"

ranboo raises an eyebrow in curiosity. "i thought myths were supposed to stay myths?"

technoblade only scoffs in response. "welcome to the SMP, ranboo, you're living the myth."


	3. chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> ranboo, tommy, and techno pay bad a visit

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> heyy btw in my rendition of the lore i kind of imagine george, bad, sam, & the ppl who built the town that never was (except for quackity and fundy- i imagine them as their already canon ages) to be a bit older, maybe late twenties or thirties

the three took refuge in the ruined building that ranboo had slept in, spreading the books and papers that had been found across the floor, trying to sort out what everything had meant. 

"it seems like it's just history.. i wonder who wrote it," tommy shrugged, closing a book before standing up. "no one ever talks about history here," 

ranboo could only nod along, trying to process and string together the information. "do you guys feel like something here is missing? there's a piece of this- these books had to have been written in a series over a long period of time. Something isn't here, a hole in the plot.."

"someone wanted to keep it hidden, i'd think," technoblade cuts in, brushing some of the dust off of his armour. "but i agree, something's missing, and the books are dated. The book with gogtopia crossed off of the front is dated about 15 years ago- the two of you wouldn't have been born, me and wilbur were about 12 and everyone who was born here would have been around our age at the time, or in their teens..." 

tommy laughs, the kind that came before one of his jokes. "d'you think it was dream or some shit? it could be the past he's hiding,"

"no, no way," techno shakes his head. "dream would've burned these books if he wanted this place gone- he doesn't have attachments like this.. quackity isn't from here and he's younger so it couldn't have been him. Bad, Sam, and George definitely could have been here, and they seem to be the only options,"

ranboo's contently listening to the two brothers discussing who they thought had written the passages before he hears a crash. 

"fuck!' tommy exclaims, and ranboo lifts his head up to see a whole in the floorboards and techno standing over it- tommy had fallen through the floor. 

"what the...?" he trails off, standing up to look down on the younger, to see him lying in a 3 foot deep hole, surrounded by what had to be at least 10 more books. 

techno scoffs lightly in disbelief, "holy crap, tommy stand up and hand us books,"

tommy sighs as he stands up, shaking dirt out of his sleeves as he mumbles out a sour "i'm okay, thanks for asking," and piles books outside of the hole. 

after pulling the younger out of the hole (with the help of techno), ranboo picks up one of the books titled "1732-1738", skimming through the pages, stopping on the last page as something written in thick, red ink catches his eyes. 

"K.J.," he whispers, his eyes twisting in confusion as techno and tommy both look in his direction. 

"huh?" tommy asks, approaching the other boy, peering over his shoulder.   
"holy shit, you found initials?"

"who's K.J.?" techno stands on ranboo's other side, scanning the page ranboo had stopped on. 

ranboo thinks for a second, stopping as he profiles everyone he knew, before his mind finally got caught on- 

"karl!" ranboo exclaims, closing the book quickly and looking up. "karl wrote these- this is why he's here!" 

tommy stepped back, now more careful of the weak floor beneath them as he leans on the most stable wall he could find. "why is karl writing history books- and more importantly, why is he hiding them?"

the discussion quickly stopped as they heard someone throw a trident and land outside of the house, quickly drawing their weapons as they turned around to see no one other than bad. 

"woah, calm down," bad laughs, his usual passive aura adorning him, "i keep close watch over this place.. why are the three of you here?" 

"none of your business," techno grunted, still defensive with his crossbow raised- ranboo had already lowered his weapon, and tommy had relaxed significantly. 

"i see you found karl's books," bad smiled, looking up at the big building. "he asked me to keep them, so i hid them there.. but the three of you are trustworthy enough, and plus karl's been distracted recently so.." 

"do you know why- or even how- karl writes these?" ranboo questions. bad was among the older on the server- he knew he would have some answers. 

"i'm not really sure... karl's always been odd, he had an obsession with time and what he called "his plot", would disappear for weeks at a time, people recognized him very often when he had first arrived, and... this place," bad shrugs. 

"what do you mean 'this place'?" tommy intervenes. 

"oh.. when me, karl, sam, and george.. and someone else i can't quite remember.. were in our teens, karl took us out into the woods, away from dream. he would ramble on about getting away from dream and showing us 'the outcome'. we built this place really quickly and lived here for about a year or so before karl woke us up at around 4 am one night, took us up to his observation tower, and made us watch as he destroyed this place.. we'd all gotten attached to it and he just yelled about his 'grand finale' as he blew it all up," 

"sounds a lot like wilbur," tommy scoffed, his tone bitter as he thinks of what his brother did- the scars he left behind. 

techno dropped his weapon as he stared at bad in disbelief. "are you kiddinh=g me? karl jacobs- the side switching snake- was the folk story that inspired my brother to become what he was?" 

bad tilted his head, confused by techno. "huh? what do you mean?"

"Bad, i don't think you realize how much the world outside of here actually revolves around this place... in most other places, this land is seen as what is so close to an urban legend. this town? it was folklore where me and wilbur grew up, phil told wilbur this story all the time. karl jacobs is one of the sole factors contributing to my brother's actions." 

"okay let's not jump to conclusions, techno-" bad laughs nervously, but didn't finish before techno had cut him off again. 

"no, no. karl did this.. but how? i thought karl was 22, around quackity's age.. does he just not age?" techno raises an eyebrow as he thinks outloud to himself. 

"are you perhaps suggesting that.." tommy trails off as he looks over at his brother. 

"karl isn't as normal as we think he is."


End file.
